Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Andrew Sullivan, Dear Gentle Reader(s), occasionally mystifies. His obsession with Senator Clinton is well documented, but little other than his “gut” can account for it. He is rapidly amassing the same amount of virtual ink with his relentless focus on Governor Palin. Those are, however, gut mysteries which actually have no rationale beyond a sort of irrational rationale; and that’s Sullivan’s personal problem. Who cares? It’s his occasional logical mystery which is most bothersome.

Here is a quote about the current debate on the fate of Proposition 8 from “The Daily Dish,” Sullivan’s blog, which is offered for your consideration:

Both supporters and opponents have asked for a judicial ruling on whether the initiative can stand. My own view is that it should stand, and the court should decline to reverse it. We lost. They won in a fair fight.

“They won in a fair fight.” Really? One wonders. If the proponents ofProp 8 had not focused on children the final weeks of the campaign, would they have “won?” Had the focus of the campaign been totally about whether or not civil rights, found to be guaranteed under the California state constitution, should be stripped from neighbors, colleagues, and family members, would “they” have won?

Everyone talks about dirty campaigns; all’s fair in love and war—all bromides which paper over the immoral tactics some who debate an issue pursue. It’s one thing when “rogue” partisans run the Willie Horton ads, or the 527s demean Senator Kerry, or when Sarah Palin implies Barack Obama hangs with terrorists, but it’s quite another when a religious-based political group, with religious financial support and pulpit support resorts to lying and using children in the lie.

The proponents of Prop 8 were/are odious liars. Their campaign was not honorable.